TAIPEI: Taiwan's jobless rate climbed to a record in September as employers remained reluctant to hire in an economy recovering from a yearlong recession.

The seasonally adjusted rate increased to 6.09 percent from 6.07 percent in August, the statistics bureau said yesterday in Taipei. That was the highest since the government began tracking unemployment in 1978, and compares with a median estimate of 6.10 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of seven economists.

"The creation of new jobs was not fast enough to provide for all the applicants," said Tony Phoo, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Taipei. "Still, the job market is showing signs of improvement and will continue to strengthen."

Wu Den-yih, head of the Executive Yuan, said on October 1 that the jobless rate fell in September because of a government stimulus program and the recovery in the global economy. Taiwan's exports fell at the slowest pace in 11 months in September on improved demand from the mainland for cellphones, computers and other electronic goods.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest custom-chip maker and the island's biggest listed company by market value, said last week it will give employees an extra month of salary as a bonus for the company's recent strong performance.

The number of unemployed people rose to 666,000 in September from 662,000 in August. Without adjusting for seasonal factors, Taiwan's jobless rate fell to 6.04 percent from 6.13 percent in August.

Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 10/23/2009 page2)